Re: Apple II GS Question

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article pubpc1@library.ucla.edu writes...

>OTOH, when given a choice between a 25MHz '486 with Windows 95 and a
>13.75MHz/16K Zipped GS, I'd naturally pick the GS for word processing
>since it runs its software faster than the PC does.

    I'm sure even a stock IIgs runs it's GUI smoother/faster than a
486sx-25 running Windows 95, but then again, most people running it
usually have a mid to high-end Pentium (it runs well on my 133 MHz
486 too). I still use ProTERM 3.1 to access my shell account, though 
not necessarily because it's faster, but due to the fact the software 
is better written than any PC terminal software I've found so far. :) 
(I wonder if InTrec still plans to write "ProTERM PC").

    Unfortunately, while an accelerator does speed up windows and
graphics, as well as other parts of the machine, the IIgs still
continues to be _very_ slow doing anything math intensive. Even
with my 15/64 ZipGS, the GS remains relatively unbearable when
decompressing JPEG images or ZIP/LHA archives. The accelerator
does nothing to overcome the 1 MHz bus, and still only speeds
things up that are placed into it's memory cache. In such cases,
even a 386 beats it in that area in terms speed (I even recall 
some claiming their PC-Transporters are able to decompress ZIP
archives faster than a GS, and that merely uses a NEC V30, the
equivalent of a fast 8086 or 186).

>The exception is AppleWorks Classic users.  The text screen runs
>fast even without an accelerator.  Incidentally, Macs lack text
>screens.  Strange...back in the Mac Plus days, a terminal on a Mac
>would slug along while Apple II, GS, and PC terminals zoomed past.

    That's always been a major limitation of the Mac, no character
generator for text. If I want to run Linux on my PC, I have a nice
fast text interface (same with GNO on the IIgs) but the Macintosh
has to use bitmapped fonts in a window. Fast or slow, all computers
should have a character generator available IMO.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca